Hand injury rules Sheahan out of McLoughlin showdown

HOPES of getting Roy Sheahan to Athens for next week’s Olympic qualifying tournament were abandoned yesterday when it was ruled that his damaged hand would not be sufficiently recovered for an 11th-hour box-off with Willie McLoughlin (Illie GG).

Donegal man McLoughlin won the final against welterweight, John Joe McDonagh (Brosna), in the box-offs which were staged among the senior championship semi-finalists after the Olympic qualifying event in Pescara.

But before that fight both camps agreed to a box-off with Sheahan — who was nursing a broken hand sustained in the pre-Pescara training camp in Italy — although it is understood that any such deal was later disputed.

Following his performances at the world championships in Chicago, Sheahan retained his national senior title beating John Joe McDonagh 6-0.

McDonagh, however, was drafted into the team for Pescara when the Athy man broke his hand but he bowed out in his first fight.

McLoughlin, who lost to Roy Sheahan on a cut eye decision in the semi-finals of the nationals, deprived him of a second chance when he beat him 9-8 in the box-offs final.

Roy Sheahan was ringside for that fight and had been hoping to get the pins taken out of his hand the following week.

“His recovery has been slower than normal with this type of injury,” Director of High Performance, Gary Keegan, said yesterday.

“We always knew it was going to be an 11th hour thing but, to be honest, we never thought it would be this late.

““If it was a 70 or even 60% thing we would have been prepared to give it a shot but, unfortunately, it was not even that.

“Roy is still a very young boxer and if he was to go ahead with a box-off and maybe participate in the qualifying tournament there was the danger he would do more damage to the hand.

“He has the European championships coming up in November and we need him for the EU championships where he will be defending the title he won in Dublin last year.

“Obviously he was very anxious to go into a box-off and to get to Athens but that would have been against medical advice. The people who were looking after him admitted that his recovery was slower than normal.

“It is disappointing for him but we are going to Athens at the weekend with high hopes of getting more boxers qualified for Beijing. Morale is very high in the camp right now and the boxers are well prepared and very fit.”